In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. -Psalms16:11 NKJV

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Hudson and his ears.

Last Thursday Hudson had tubes put in his ears. Today he spent the day wanting to have daddy's "earphones" on. (Earphones are what he calls ear protectors) Is he just hearing so well now he feels the need to go back to the old "what????" days?

Anyway- lots of people have asked how the whole tube process went. I'll try and do a short version. (who am I kidding. When have I ever been able to say something quickly?) So here you go:

6:00pm Wednesday night- The anesthesiologist calls to talk with me. I tell her I don't want the pre-meds because when Hudson was 18 months old he had a cap put on a chipped tooth. He had some oral medicine that was supposed to make him sleepy and lethargic, instead it made him scream and thrash around for 3 hours. It was by far the worst parenting time I have ever had. They strapped him down on a board and did the dental work while he screamed the whole time. The anesthesiologist tells me she really likes to do the pre-meds because it makes it easier to take him away from me and it has a amnesia effect so he won't remember the whole thing even if he reacts badly. She also says that if he had the reaction before he very well might have a bad experience again, but not to worry, he won't remember it. (I will) She talks and talks to convince me to do it. Non-confrontational me AGREES over the phone to go ahead and do the pre-meds. But I'm not happy about it.

The rest of the night I process and think about the whole pre-med thing.

2:00am- Ainsley comes in to tell me Camden is screaming. Deal with Camden.

2:30am- Try and go back to sleep. Worry about Hudson. Worry about the pre-meds.

3:00am- Decide I'm not doing the pre-meds.

3:00-4:30am- Worry that I'm going to be making the person putting my child to sleep mad. No sleep for me.

4:30am- Shower and get ready. Still worrying.

5:30am- Get Hudson out of bed. He wants to know why we have to get up in the middle of the night. He is not happy. He of course then asks for breakfast. He doesn't exactly take the news that he can't eat well.

5:45am- We manage to get out of the house.

6:30am- arrive at Providence.

6:30-7:00am- wait. Hudson wants to go back home.

7:00am- An elderly hospital volunteer comes out and calls someone back. Not us.

7:08am- Another elderly hospital volunteer comes out and calls for Mr. Patty. She calls and calls. Never says a first name. I am reading to Hudson. After probably her 10th time it dawns on me maybe she is calling us. I have had Pate mispronounced frequently, which I think is silly considering a beginning first grader should be able to sound it out. I have never had anyone say Patty though. So I say, "Are you looking for Hudson Pate?" She was.

We follow her back to the short stay surgery area. It is brand new and very nice, but the thing is Providence is great, but definitely not a pediatric hospital. She pulls out a hospital gown for him to put on. The same type that would be big on Andrew. I look at her and ask if maybe they have pajamas for children. She tells me she is not sure. I hold up the gown and show her that the neck hole is bigger than his shoulders and that it is about 3 feet too long. Not to mention I could wrap it around him 5 times. Hudson folds his hands and says, "I'm not wearing that." At this point I'm thinking we might have to do the pre-meds to wear the gown if they are going to really make him.

The lady then says, "Now Isaiah, they won't let you go in the operating room if you don't wear it." So many things wrong here. First off, not going in the operating sounds like a good idea to him. No gown equals no operating room. Great. Next problem, lots of kids are very familiar with their middle name because when they are in trouble their mom uses their full name. I am to busy getting on to what the problem is to waste time spitting out their middle name. So although Hudson knows Isaiah is his middle name, it made no sense to him why this lady was calling him Isaiah. In her defense, frequently people are confused about which name between Hudson and Pate is his first name. She went with the one of the three that was for sure a first name. But it wasn't. So Hudson who had been really calm, is starting to not be very compliant.

I ask her to please go find a nurse and ask if they maybe have a child's pair of pajamas. Otherwise I am just going to have him wear his shirt and underwear. She leaves, probably not happy.

7:25am- A very nice nurse comes in and she had found a pair of pajamas. Hooray. Hudson discovers the remote for the TV and is delighted.

7:30- The nurse leaves for me to dress him. As she is walking out I mention that I will need to talk to the anesthesiologist again because I have decided I do not want to do the pre-med liquid. She says, "but it is my instructions for Hudson today." I say, "yes, but I'm not giving it to him." She says she will go call the doctor, and leaves with a loud sigh. And I have now made the nice nurse turn into a grumpy nurse. Great.

7:50- Hudson is happily watching PBS kids. I'm worrying. The nurse returns, and doesn't say anything about the medication. But she is nice again, so hopefully all is well.

8:04- Surgery is supposed to be at 8.

8:10- ENT doctor, who I really like, comes in to talk with me. He is great, very nice to Hudson. But Hudson isn't even listening to him because, you know, the TV is on and he is in charge of the remote. This has never happened before. The doctor starts to tell me that when he comes out he will be very confused not because of the actual anesthesia or the surgery, but because of the vereset (pre-med) that he has taken. I then explain that I have opted that we won't be having that. He then says, "Oh, that is probably a great idea, he is fine and so are you so there is no reason to put you guys through that!" Dr. P is now my new best friend. Just then the anesthesiologist comes in, introduces herself to me, says nothing about the meds. The two of them talk to Hudson for a minute. Hudson asks me to pause the TV I tell him sure (lie, no DVR here my friend) and they wheel him out of the room.

8:10-8:35- pray/worry/pray/worry... watch a little of the Today show, when did morning TV get so dumb? pray/worry/pray/worry...repeat.

8:35- Dr. P comes in and tells me everything went great. Hudson's ears were way worse than he expected. Tons of fluid and his eardrums were really thick (?). Hudson is waking up and they will bring him in when he is awake. Prayer of thanksgiving.

8:42- They roll a sleepy, confused Hudson into me. I was so happy to see him. He gets a little teary, but doesn't actually cry. He says, "I want these pajamas off. I want to go home."

8:45- Nurse gives me a syringe of tylenol to give to him. Evidently that was too early. I put it in his mouth and he sprays it all out over the bed. White blanket, red sticky medicine. So happy I'm not doing that laundry.

8:50- Nurse tells me he needs to drink a little and then eat a popsicle before he gets up. She leaves. Hudson starts freaking out that he hates the pajamas and wants out of bed. He is getting really wound up. As long as I have now become an noncompliance parent, I change his clothes and he sits in my lap. He is now calm and happy. He relaxes and eats his orange popsicle.

9:00- Nurse comes back in and sees him all dressed and is surprised. She says we can leave whenever I want, but I either have to carry him or have him taken to the car in a wheelchair. Any other circumstance and I would have thought he would have loved the wheelchair, he freaks out at the suggestion. I say I'll carry him. (all 42 pounds).

9:10- Hudson is still a little out of it, but wants to leave. We go out. I carry him to the elevator. Then he is on his own. I do make him hold my hand. Until the parking garage walkway where he wants to run ahead to beat anyone who might be there to push the buttons.

9:15 Leaving in the car he is completely back to normal, telling me he is starving.

9:45 Get food, spend 25 minutes inspecting every package of legos at Walmart. After finally picking one we go up to pay only to be sidetracked by a hotwheels thing that he immediately wants to get instead. 25 minutes of my life I will never get back.

The rest of the story: No pain, no pain meds. On Friday he told me, "Hey, my ears feel lots better." When we ask him if his ears hurt before he says, "No, they just feel different." We can tell a huge difference in his hearing.

Overall, great experience. Moral of the story: If your child needs tubes, do it. Super easy. No need to do the pre-medication.

3 comments:

Great recap, Tiffany. You are a good storyteller. And good for you for going with your gut and refusing the premeds. Even those of us who hate confrontation can stand up pretty well when it comes to our kids!